WRONG YEAR FOR SPENDING BIG BUCKS BY BOLTS

Woodhead numbers provide reality check

Chris Gittings is the agent for new Chargers running back Danny Woodhead. He is the president and founder of his own agency, One West Sports. In January, he was featured in the Sports Agency Blog’s monthly spotlight.

Gittings is good.

He’s not that good.

Last week, an online report detailed Woodhead’s two-year contract, citing a worth of $11 million. Front-office members, when approached in private, shook off that sum, and indeed, the numbers learned Monday were lower than those circulating.

Woodhead’s two-year deal is worth $3.5 million. It includes a $1 million signing bonus and, with a $750,000 base salary, will count $1.25 million against the 2013 salary cap — figures that make sense for both sides.

This is not the year the Chargers go spending.

This is the year they’re scheduled to devote in cap space a minimum of $6 million to tackle Jared Gaither and $6.875 million to wide receiver Robert Meachem. Those contracts are two of the team’s top five costliest in 2013 cap space, accounting for about 10.5 percent of the possible $123 million total.

This is the year Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers’ contract, renegotiated in 2009, happens to peak in cap value. The $17.11 million, worth 13.9 percent, will drop more than $2 million in 2014.

This is the year the Chargers work to reward their own talent — inside linebacker Donald Butler is in a contract year — and draft and develop the next wave, they hope, to fill roster holes.

That is the plan. With the numbers, the real numbers, that’s been the plan.

Ed McGuire, the Chargers Park contract worker, is paid to find ways on paper to fit players on the field. Zero of the free agency additions thus far have exceeded a cap hit of $2.1 million, a number that belongs to new starting cornerback Derek Cox.

Tackle King Dunlap: $1.775 million. Tight end John Phillips: $1.317 million. Both multiyear deals are laced with incentives.

No new contract can hurt the Chargers in 2014 the way those from 2012 are now. Cox has a $4.25 million base salary in 2014, but it isn’t fully guaranteed the way Meachem’s was. It comes with an injury guarantee that becomes fully guaranteed on the third day of the 2014 league year.

Free agency has quieted around the NFL.

While there appears to be nothing imminent ahead for the Chargers, given their attention to improving the offensive line, they cannot be counted out to make a play for a tackle. Whether that materializes is a separate matter.

There also are players, such as defensive end Vaughn Martin, outside linebacker Shaun Phillips or cornerback Quentin Jammer, who could theoretically return to their old NFL home at the right price.

But San Diego has a little more than $7 million in cap space.

And that doesn’t include hidden fees, such as roughly $4 million in draft picks to come, the injury reserve budget and the extra wiggle room a team likes to keep for a midseason move in a possible playoff push.